By Heather Nicholson
“Cuando una mujer llega a la política cambia la mujer; pero…
cuando las mujeres llegan a la política cambia la política.”*
“Poder feminino,” FMLN election pamphlet
Throughout the tumultuous history of the Central American country of El Salvador women have played a crucial role in creating dynamic political change. From La Mantanza in 1932 to the civil war that the nation endured for twelve long years the women of El Salvador have made significant contributions to popular upheaval and political action. All too often women’s participation in the guerilla forces of revolutions does not necessarily translate into political power upon demobilization. This seems to have been the case for the female combatants of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, or FMLN, who participated in El Salvador’s brutal civil war of the 1980’s. Though women were an integral part of FMLN forces during the war, their political participation afterwards was constantly challenged. The lack of a female political voice in El Salvador has resulted in a bleak situation for women in that country to this day. In March of 2009 El Salvador will elect a new president and there is a great possibility that that president will come from the FMLN. An entire section of the FMLN’s plan of government is devoted to women, but this begs the question of whether change is coming after all or if history is bound to repeat itself.
When campesinos grew tired of enduring the violence and political persecution of the U.S. sponsored government in El Salvador they too took up arms, beginning a twelve year long civil war that lasted from 1980 until 1992. Fighting against the Salvadoran government, equipped with assistance from United States military aid and their own paramilitary death squads, was to be a daunting task for the coalition of groups that formed the FMLN. This being the case, the revolutionary forces simply could not afford to discriminate. As Karen Kampwirth states, “…the needs of revolutionary warfare meant that excluding women just because they were women would have been inefficient: all willing participants had to be welcomed into the revolutionary coalition.” (14)
And into the revolution they came. Inspired by the egalitarian messages of the leftist coalition and excited about coming closer to gender equality than had ever been possible before, women joined the FMLN in their fight by the tens of thousands. Women comprised an estimated 30% of armed combatants and 60% of those providing logistical support for the FMLN. (Vázquez 139)
Though women were welcomed into the FMLN in large numbers they were not exempt from the sexism and discrimination that plagued most all women in El Salvador. Women were not often assigned to high levels of leadership as the most valued political and military duties were reserved mostly for men. (Vásquez 141) Women did perform some duties that previously would have been out of the question due to the existence of rigid gender role expectations, for example, a limited number of leadership and combat
* When a woman enters politics the woman changes; but… when women enter politics, politics change.
positions, but many women were still assigned to historically feminine jobs like cooking or nursing.
In addition, the structure of the FMLN helped to reinforce the traditional divisions of labor that existed in Salvadoran society.In many cases men were prevented from visiting their children or providing financial support to their families. Also, the so-called feminine qualities that were needed to fight the war (sacrifice, caring for others, etc.) helped to reinforce “in the collective imagination how suitable women were for carrying out tasks they had always performed.” (Vásquez 141) Mechanisms like these helped to maintain the placement of women primarily within the domestic sphere.
Beyond the structural violence experienced by female FMLN combatants, physical violence was also a problem for women among the revolutionary forces. As in so many other cases, rape was used a tool of torture during the Salvadoran civil war. Many female combatants were raped by government troops and paramilitary squads. To make matters worse, many women were also victims of rape perpetrated by their own comrades within the FMLN. On paper, anyone who was found to have raped a woman faced the death penalty, but this punishment was usually nothing more than an empty threat. As a result of both the impunity granted by the powers that be in the FMLN and the stigma attached to rape victims, very few women denounced the men who raped them.
Of the some 15,000 FMLN members that were officially demobilized at the end of the war 29.9% of these were women. (Luciak 42) The women who had participated in the revolutionary forces left with a sense of pride in what they had accomplished. Many had a renewed self confidence that came partially as a result of their accomplishments in the revolution. Many women, depending upon their specific roles within the FMLN were able to learn organizing skills which would prove helpful in future feminist organizing. Participation in a leftist movement such as the FMLN left many women ready to act. In addition, many women who fought with the FMLN were exposed to a political socialization that they had not previously experienced. Equipped with the egalitarian ideas that were so much the foundation for their fighting, new organizing skills and a renewed sense of self confidence many women of the FMLN were set to blaze a feminist trail in El Salvador.
After the civil war ended and democratization began it was expected that more opportunities for participation would be open for women and other groups that had formerly been excluded from political processes. However, when women began to question a return to traditional gender inequality in the post-war period their former male comrades offered a negative response in many cases. The war did open up political space to a much greater extent than it had been in the pre-war era, but for too many male comrades the feminist thought that came from many former female FMLN combatants was a little too much to handle.
The lack of positive response to feminism is evident in examining the process that led to the signing of the Peace Accords. The Peace Accords were signed in Castillo de Chapultepec, Mexico in January 16, 1992 and included a 70% reduction in armed forces, established a civilian police force and transformed the FMLN from a guerilla group to a genuine political party. Despite the fact that women were a huge portion of FMLN combatants and were a staggering 60% of the civilian population that supported the FMLN (Kampwirth 81) women’s issues were not explicitly addressed in any way by the Peace Accords that ended the war. Female combatants were without a doubt in need of a great deal of support upon demobilization: 80% had children under the age of twelve and 29% were heads of households. (Vasquez 145) Demobilization would be especially difficult for these women who found themselves without support from the government or from the FMLN for whom they had fought so bravely.
After the Peace Accords the next big step in El Salvador’s democratization process was the Election of 1994. This would be the first post-war election and the first time the FMLN would be seen as a formal political party. The way that the FMLN responded to feminist demands in their first go as a party would be critical in determining the role that they would play in eliminating all types of inequality.
The campaign leading up to the election of 1994, like the Peace Accords that preceded it, featured very little content focusing directly on women and eliminating gender inequality. In response to the lack of gender oriented content Salvadoran feminists created Women 94, an organization dedicated to ensuring the existence of a feminist role in the campaigns leading to the pivotal first post-war election. Women 94 created a list of fourteen demands. Nine of these demands can be categorized as feminist and included things like: a direct challenge to existing power dynamics between men and women, comprehensive sex education, free and voluntary motherhood and a quota of 50% of leadership positions for women. Three of the demands may be defined as feminine because they address women’s issues within the traditional gender division of labor. (Kampwirth 93)
The response to Women 94 and their Fourteen Demands was somewhat mixed. The platform was presented in August of 1993 to a limited audience of only two major candidates, one of which was the FMLN. In response, the FMLN set up the Women’s Electoral Command which worked to ensure that the election promoted women’s issues and helped to assure visibility for female candidates. In addition, the FMLN released a pamphlet whose title in English reads “First Our Demand: Women Vote for Yourself, Vote FMLN.” The publication listed seven ways that the FMLN would improve women’s lives and even included illustrations which showed more progressive ideas of gender relations. In contrast however, the impact of the Women 94 platform on the ARENA party can be described as “quite limited at best.” (Kampwirth 268)
Though the FMLN response to Women 94 was, on the surface, quite positive, there was one issue that was a huge sticking point for many men, including those of the FMLN. The idea of creating a quota of 50% of leadership positions for women was not well received, to say the least. Luciak describes some of the responses from men on the issue of quotas: “This is a violation of human rights; This is an imposition of the women; What are these quotas about?; Women are no good for leadership positions; When they are elected they don’t deliver.” (50) Despite the negative response Salvadoran feminists continued to push for a quota. In the end, their efforts in respect to the quota were largely ineffective. Feminists failed to persuade those within FMLN leadership to agree to even a 30% quota in selecting candidates for the 1994 parliamentary elections. The refusal to establish quotas for females may point to a significant discrepancy that exists between the official FMLN rhetoric and the actions they are actually willing to take to ensure gender equality within the party.
The results of the election of 1994 illustrate the fact that despite their unwillingness to initiate a quota, the FMLN was indeed the most gender progressive of all parties. Within the FMLN the success rate for male and female candidates was about the same. Women also represented 23.8% of the FMLN’s representation in Parliament. (Luciak 55) The success of female FMLN militants was most prevalent at the national level. In contrast, the rightist ARENA party had a total of only four female candidates elected to Parliament. (Luciak 52) Overall, it can be said that Women 94 did have a moderate effect on the election, with only a limited number of female candidates outside the FLMN, but having created enough pressure to result in a situation where the top two vote getters did indeed endorse their feminist demands.
Feminist organizing in El Salvador did not end after the somewhat limited successes experienced during both the formation of the Peace Accords and the initial post-war election in 1994. In fact it is in this period where the leftist coalition, especially the FMLN, increasingly begins to identify itself with various organized women’s movements. In addition, the FMLN began to create its own women’s organizations. The convergence of women’s movements and the FMLN party resulted largely from a post-war situation in which money from NGO’s and other aid groups began coming into El Salvador at increasing rates. Many of these aid groups were very eager to support women’s organization and development. Ironically, many women’s organizations that were created by former guerillas were even recipients of large grants from the United States government. (Kampwirth 106) It is critical to point out though that because many women’s organizations in El Salvador were created by the FMLN that the funds received from various aid agencies were controlled and deployed not by the women’s groups themselves, but by FMLN party leadership. (Luciak 44) This created an unfortunate situation whereby many women’s groups were used as merely a means for the party to gain increased revenue. As a result of this, many women’s groups began to seek autonomy from political parties, including the FMLN, and when they did so they were often met with high levels of aggression from party leadership.
As women’s groups began increasingly seeking autonomy from the political parties to which they had been tied and they continued to receive funds from NGOs and other international aid agencies, a new stigma became attached to feminism in El Salvador. Many people, including former revolutionaries of the FMLN began to see Salvadoran feminists as being “subservient to the interests of outsiders.” (Kampwirth 91) To these people many Salvadoran women were at the whim of foreign feminists and U.S. activists, and were therefore traitors to the revolutionary cause. For women of the FMLN this tension between class and gender interests began to make organizing more and more difficult. Male compañeros suggested that by exerting so much energy on the feminist struggle that many FMLN women had thereby given up the class struggle that they had fought so long and hard for.
All was not completely lost in this era of organizing for women though. In the post-war period encuentros feministas began to see a good deal of success. During these meetings agendas were able to speak primarily to the gender specific concerns of Salvadoran women. This represented a dramatic change from feminist meetings held during the war in which the men in many sponsoring organizations, including the FMLN, dominated the agenda.
The mixed success of feminist organizing among former FMLN women resulted in a modest increase in the number of female candidates. In 1994 women comprised 23.2% of all candidates and substitutes, and that number increased to 29.8% in the election of 1997. (Luciak 52) Following elections showed similarly modest changes in women’s representation in politics.
As El Salvador draws closer and closer to what may be one of its most pivotal elections it is essential that women’s issues are critically addressed in the campaigns of all parties, but especially the FMLN, the party out of which many Salvadoran feminists came. There are still so many critical issues for women in El Salvador that must be addressed by the campaign.
One of the biggest problems for Salvadoran women is the increasing amount of violence they face. According to the Washington Office on Latin America, 80% of women in Salvadoran households experience domestic violence. (SHARE) In addition, the number of femicides, or the killing of women because they are women, has been on the rise. In 2005 there were 390 cases and in the short period of January through August of 2006 there were already 286 reported femicides. (SHARE) Perhaps more alarming than the increasingly large number of femicides is the level of impunity with which these murders are treated. According to the SHARE Foundation, 42% of these femicides are committed in public and go largely unpunished.
Related to the level of violence is the increasing feminization of migration. ORMUSA, The Organization of Salvadoran Women for Peace, reports that beginning in the year 2000 more women than men began to migrate. Those that plan to make the long and treacherous journey of migration to the United States are faced with a great deal of physical, sexual and emotional violence along the path. Most women who plan to migrate to the U.S. begin taking birth control pills two months in advance because they know they will be raped on their way. (SHARE)
In addition, women are economically stifled by their lack of access to credit and equal employment. Only 1% of all Salvadoran businesses are owned by women. Women also do not have the same opportunities for employment. Jobs for women are confined primarily to the productive sector, including employment in exploitive maquillas. Maquiallas have long been a mainstay of employment for women, but as a result of the Central American Free Trade Agreement even these jobs have been diminishing for women. CAFTA has resulted in an increase in technology based factory work and bilingual call centers as sources of employment. Due to their unequal access to education many women are not qualified for these jobs. Even in higher levels of employment women face barriers to equal employment. Men are often given preference in jobs and earn higher salaries. Furthermore, once hired women are often subject to a great deal of sexual harassment.
Health problems are also a critical issue for Salvadoran women. Many health issues for women are related to childbirth. El Salvador has a maternal mortality rate of 71 out of 100,000 births. Most peasant women give birth to their children in their homes, many times without any assistance. (Dream 36) Those women that are lucky enough to give birth in a hospital or clinic can be subject to forced sterilization. In El Salvador “hundreds of women have been sterilized during childbirth without their knowledge or consent.” (Dream 90) Psychological stress can also be a huge problem for Salvadoran women. Many women suffer from depression due to the machismo they experience on a day to day basis. The general poverty and lack of employment in El Salvador often causes the most stress to women since it is usually the women of the family who are responsible for feeding the family and caring for their children.
Women also face the problem of inequality before the law. The right wing government in El Salvador celebrated its Family Code Law as a way to increase gender equality, but this has certainly not been the case. The law addresses women only in their position within the family and may actually be used against women in many situations. Judges may encourage women to stay in abusive or violent situations in order to maintain the family structure. (Bernarda 8) In addition, abortion legislation passed in 1998 has eliminated any circumstances under which abortion was previously allowed. Currently, abortion is completely illegal in El Salvador. Lastly, it should be mentioned that there is essentially no body of government dedicated to women’s issues. There is a Ministry of Women within the current ARENA government, but it’s only budget is the salary for the mere one person who staffs it.
In order to gain a more full understanding of the situation of Salvadoran women, especially women of the FMLN, it may help to briefly analyze the experiences of women in a specific community. Ita-Maura is a rural community in the department of La Libertad. It is a small community of FMLN supporters, including some former combatants and current organizers for the FMLN political party. The experiences of women in this community can help to illuminate the situation of many FMLN women throughout El Salvador.
Despite the fact that Ita-Maura is a leftist FMLN community machismo continues to play a huge role in the daily lives of women there. Many women in Ita-Maura are not able to gain employment because this often requires traveling to another town and this is usually not allowed because women are expected to take care of all of the household and child rearing responsibilities.
As part of the community governance of Ita-Maura there is a Women’s Council. This group though lacks genuine power within the community. It appears to be little more than another group to whom the Directive of the community delegates its own projects, providing little in the way of projects for women to apply themselves to. In addition, a recent meeting with the Women’s Council was attended by a male member of the Community Directive who actually did most of the speaking for the women. Furthermore, the meeting was cut short because the women had to leave to go home and prepare lunch. This further exemplifies one of the many ways in which machismo stifles the political participation of women in Ita-Maura.
Women are also at a disadvantage when it comes to education. Angela, a woman from Ita-Maura and a member of the Women’s Council describes the situation: “When faced with the choice, parents will send a boy to school before sending a girl. Girls are lucky if they make it to high school.”
Despite the fact that women make up 57% of El Salvador’s population their problems have been addressed very little by the country’s ARENA government. Next year the FMLN candidate stands a great chance of winning the presidential election. This has been seen as a beacon of hope for many Salvadorans, especially for women. Angela, a member of the Ita-Maura Women’s Council expressed this great hope when she said that “things will change so much if the FMLN wins. Life for women will be a lot better.” During the war and in the immediate demobilization that followed the FMLN failed to live up to its potential of increasing gender equality in El Salvador. The FMLN party may have a great opportunity to make up for this if they are successful in the presidential election of 2009. As a preliminary measure of whether or not the FMLN will live up to its potential an analysis of its published plan of government is critical.
The FMLN plan of government includes an entire section devoted to women’s issues entitled “Política para la Equidad de Genero.” This section describes how the FMLN will work to facilitate access to land and private property for women, increase access for women to employment and help ensure equal pay. In addition, the FMLN plans to give women priority in the granting of small business loans and to promote other systems of credit for women. (31) Improving women’s access to political space is also addressed. The FMLN pledges to “take actions to help women in politics.” (32) This will be done by increasing access for women to places where they can make decisions on public responsibilities, structures and direction of political parties.
Throughout other sections of the plan for government women’s issues are addressed within the context of other areas of governing. The FMLN has pledged to prioritize the inclusion of girls in education, guarantee universal access and equality of reproductive health services. In the section on health the government plan prioritized the repairing of the national maternity hospital.
For the many female FMLN combatants who hoped that their commitment to the revolution would result in a changed political situation for women, the years since demobilization have proven to be a disappointment. The leftist FMLN has failed to make their message of equality inclusive of gender and the women that have long supported the party still face a bleak situation in El Salvador. Salvadoran women are hopeful that if the FMLN is successful in the next election that they will stay true to their plans for improving the conditions for all women. It is the hope of Salvadoran women that their contributions to the revolutionary effort, their long struggle for equality and the many sacrifices they have made will not go unnoticed. The women of the FMLN are hopeful that their participation has not been in vain, that their entry into the world of politics will truly transform their lives.
Bibliography
Kampwirth, Karen. 2004. Feminism and the Legacy of Revolution: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas. Ohio University: Center for International Studies
Luciak, Ilja. 2001. “Gender Equality and Electoral Politics on the Left: A Comparison of El Salvador and Nicaragua.” Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs. pp39-63
New Americas Press. 1989. A Dream Compels Us: Voices of Salvadoran Women. Boston: South End Press
ORMUSA. March- April 2008. Bernarda
Safa, Helen. 1990. “Women’s Social Movements in Latin America” Gender and Society
Vol. 4, No. 3, Special Issue: Women and Development in the Third World. pp354-369
SHARE. 2007. “Violence Threatens Every-Day Salvadorans” Share Advocacy Issues Series
Stephen, Lynn. 1997. Women and Social Movements in Latin America: Power from Below. Austin: University of Texas Press
Vasquez, Norma. 1997. “Motherhood and Sexuality in Times of War: The Case of Women Militants of the FMLN in El Salvador” Reproductive Health Matters Vol. 5, No. 9. pp139-146
cuando las mujeres llegan a la política cambia la política.”*
“Poder feminino,” FMLN election pamphlet
Throughout the tumultuous history of the Central American country of El Salvador women have played a crucial role in creating dynamic political change. From La Mantanza in 1932 to the civil war that the nation endured for twelve long years the women of El Salvador have made significant contributions to popular upheaval and political action. All too often women’s participation in the guerilla forces of revolutions does not necessarily translate into political power upon demobilization. This seems to have been the case for the female combatants of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, or FMLN, who participated in El Salvador’s brutal civil war of the 1980’s. Though women were an integral part of FMLN forces during the war, their political participation afterwards was constantly challenged. The lack of a female political voice in El Salvador has resulted in a bleak situation for women in that country to this day. In March of 2009 El Salvador will elect a new president and there is a great possibility that that president will come from the FMLN. An entire section of the FMLN’s plan of government is devoted to women, but this begs the question of whether change is coming after all or if history is bound to repeat itself.
When campesinos grew tired of enduring the violence and political persecution of the U.S. sponsored government in El Salvador they too took up arms, beginning a twelve year long civil war that lasted from 1980 until 1992. Fighting against the Salvadoran government, equipped with assistance from United States military aid and their own paramilitary death squads, was to be a daunting task for the coalition of groups that formed the FMLN. This being the case, the revolutionary forces simply could not afford to discriminate. As Karen Kampwirth states, “…the needs of revolutionary warfare meant that excluding women just because they were women would have been inefficient: all willing participants had to be welcomed into the revolutionary coalition.” (14)
And into the revolution they came. Inspired by the egalitarian messages of the leftist coalition and excited about coming closer to gender equality than had ever been possible before, women joined the FMLN in their fight by the tens of thousands. Women comprised an estimated 30% of armed combatants and 60% of those providing logistical support for the FMLN. (Vázquez 139)
Though women were welcomed into the FMLN in large numbers they were not exempt from the sexism and discrimination that plagued most all women in El Salvador. Women were not often assigned to high levels of leadership as the most valued political and military duties were reserved mostly for men. (Vásquez 141) Women did perform some duties that previously would have been out of the question due to the existence of rigid gender role expectations, for example, a limited number of leadership and combat
* When a woman enters politics the woman changes; but… when women enter politics, politics change.
positions, but many women were still assigned to historically feminine jobs like cooking or nursing.
In addition, the structure of the FMLN helped to reinforce the traditional divisions of labor that existed in Salvadoran society.In many cases men were prevented from visiting their children or providing financial support to their families. Also, the so-called feminine qualities that were needed to fight the war (sacrifice, caring for others, etc.) helped to reinforce “in the collective imagination how suitable women were for carrying out tasks they had always performed.” (Vásquez 141) Mechanisms like these helped to maintain the placement of women primarily within the domestic sphere.
Beyond the structural violence experienced by female FMLN combatants, physical violence was also a problem for women among the revolutionary forces. As in so many other cases, rape was used a tool of torture during the Salvadoran civil war. Many female combatants were raped by government troops and paramilitary squads. To make matters worse, many women were also victims of rape perpetrated by their own comrades within the FMLN. On paper, anyone who was found to have raped a woman faced the death penalty, but this punishment was usually nothing more than an empty threat. As a result of both the impunity granted by the powers that be in the FMLN and the stigma attached to rape victims, very few women denounced the men who raped them.
Of the some 15,000 FMLN members that were officially demobilized at the end of the war 29.9% of these were women. (Luciak 42) The women who had participated in the revolutionary forces left with a sense of pride in what they had accomplished. Many had a renewed self confidence that came partially as a result of their accomplishments in the revolution. Many women, depending upon their specific roles within the FMLN were able to learn organizing skills which would prove helpful in future feminist organizing. Participation in a leftist movement such as the FMLN left many women ready to act. In addition, many women who fought with the FMLN were exposed to a political socialization that they had not previously experienced. Equipped with the egalitarian ideas that were so much the foundation for their fighting, new organizing skills and a renewed sense of self confidence many women of the FMLN were set to blaze a feminist trail in El Salvador.
After the civil war ended and democratization began it was expected that more opportunities for participation would be open for women and other groups that had formerly been excluded from political processes. However, when women began to question a return to traditional gender inequality in the post-war period their former male comrades offered a negative response in many cases. The war did open up political space to a much greater extent than it had been in the pre-war era, but for too many male comrades the feminist thought that came from many former female FMLN combatants was a little too much to handle.
The lack of positive response to feminism is evident in examining the process that led to the signing of the Peace Accords. The Peace Accords were signed in Castillo de Chapultepec, Mexico in January 16, 1992 and included a 70% reduction in armed forces, established a civilian police force and transformed the FMLN from a guerilla group to a genuine political party. Despite the fact that women were a huge portion of FMLN combatants and were a staggering 60% of the civilian population that supported the FMLN (Kampwirth 81) women’s issues were not explicitly addressed in any way by the Peace Accords that ended the war. Female combatants were without a doubt in need of a great deal of support upon demobilization: 80% had children under the age of twelve and 29% were heads of households. (Vasquez 145) Demobilization would be especially difficult for these women who found themselves without support from the government or from the FMLN for whom they had fought so bravely.
After the Peace Accords the next big step in El Salvador’s democratization process was the Election of 1994. This would be the first post-war election and the first time the FMLN would be seen as a formal political party. The way that the FMLN responded to feminist demands in their first go as a party would be critical in determining the role that they would play in eliminating all types of inequality.
The campaign leading up to the election of 1994, like the Peace Accords that preceded it, featured very little content focusing directly on women and eliminating gender inequality. In response to the lack of gender oriented content Salvadoran feminists created Women 94, an organization dedicated to ensuring the existence of a feminist role in the campaigns leading to the pivotal first post-war election. Women 94 created a list of fourteen demands. Nine of these demands can be categorized as feminist and included things like: a direct challenge to existing power dynamics between men and women, comprehensive sex education, free and voluntary motherhood and a quota of 50% of leadership positions for women. Three of the demands may be defined as feminine because they address women’s issues within the traditional gender division of labor. (Kampwirth 93)
The response to Women 94 and their Fourteen Demands was somewhat mixed. The platform was presented in August of 1993 to a limited audience of only two major candidates, one of which was the FMLN. In response, the FMLN set up the Women’s Electoral Command which worked to ensure that the election promoted women’s issues and helped to assure visibility for female candidates. In addition, the FMLN released a pamphlet whose title in English reads “First Our Demand: Women Vote for Yourself, Vote FMLN.” The publication listed seven ways that the FMLN would improve women’s lives and even included illustrations which showed more progressive ideas of gender relations. In contrast however, the impact of the Women 94 platform on the ARENA party can be described as “quite limited at best.” (Kampwirth 268)
Though the FMLN response to Women 94 was, on the surface, quite positive, there was one issue that was a huge sticking point for many men, including those of the FMLN. The idea of creating a quota of 50% of leadership positions for women was not well received, to say the least. Luciak describes some of the responses from men on the issue of quotas: “This is a violation of human rights; This is an imposition of the women; What are these quotas about?; Women are no good for leadership positions; When they are elected they don’t deliver.” (50) Despite the negative response Salvadoran feminists continued to push for a quota. In the end, their efforts in respect to the quota were largely ineffective. Feminists failed to persuade those within FMLN leadership to agree to even a 30% quota in selecting candidates for the 1994 parliamentary elections. The refusal to establish quotas for females may point to a significant discrepancy that exists between the official FMLN rhetoric and the actions they are actually willing to take to ensure gender equality within the party.
The results of the election of 1994 illustrate the fact that despite their unwillingness to initiate a quota, the FMLN was indeed the most gender progressive of all parties. Within the FMLN the success rate for male and female candidates was about the same. Women also represented 23.8% of the FMLN’s representation in Parliament. (Luciak 55) The success of female FMLN militants was most prevalent at the national level. In contrast, the rightist ARENA party had a total of only four female candidates elected to Parliament. (Luciak 52) Overall, it can be said that Women 94 did have a moderate effect on the election, with only a limited number of female candidates outside the FLMN, but having created enough pressure to result in a situation where the top two vote getters did indeed endorse their feminist demands.
Feminist organizing in El Salvador did not end after the somewhat limited successes experienced during both the formation of the Peace Accords and the initial post-war election in 1994. In fact it is in this period where the leftist coalition, especially the FMLN, increasingly begins to identify itself with various organized women’s movements. In addition, the FMLN began to create its own women’s organizations. The convergence of women’s movements and the FMLN party resulted largely from a post-war situation in which money from NGO’s and other aid groups began coming into El Salvador at increasing rates. Many of these aid groups were very eager to support women’s organization and development. Ironically, many women’s organizations that were created by former guerillas were even recipients of large grants from the United States government. (Kampwirth 106) It is critical to point out though that because many women’s organizations in El Salvador were created by the FMLN that the funds received from various aid agencies were controlled and deployed not by the women’s groups themselves, but by FMLN party leadership. (Luciak 44) This created an unfortunate situation whereby many women’s groups were used as merely a means for the party to gain increased revenue. As a result of this, many women’s groups began to seek autonomy from political parties, including the FMLN, and when they did so they were often met with high levels of aggression from party leadership.
As women’s groups began increasingly seeking autonomy from the political parties to which they had been tied and they continued to receive funds from NGOs and other international aid agencies, a new stigma became attached to feminism in El Salvador. Many people, including former revolutionaries of the FMLN began to see Salvadoran feminists as being “subservient to the interests of outsiders.” (Kampwirth 91) To these people many Salvadoran women were at the whim of foreign feminists and U.S. activists, and were therefore traitors to the revolutionary cause. For women of the FMLN this tension between class and gender interests began to make organizing more and more difficult. Male compañeros suggested that by exerting so much energy on the feminist struggle that many FMLN women had thereby given up the class struggle that they had fought so long and hard for.
All was not completely lost in this era of organizing for women though. In the post-war period encuentros feministas began to see a good deal of success. During these meetings agendas were able to speak primarily to the gender specific concerns of Salvadoran women. This represented a dramatic change from feminist meetings held during the war in which the men in many sponsoring organizations, including the FMLN, dominated the agenda.
The mixed success of feminist organizing among former FMLN women resulted in a modest increase in the number of female candidates. In 1994 women comprised 23.2% of all candidates and substitutes, and that number increased to 29.8% in the election of 1997. (Luciak 52) Following elections showed similarly modest changes in women’s representation in politics.
As El Salvador draws closer and closer to what may be one of its most pivotal elections it is essential that women’s issues are critically addressed in the campaigns of all parties, but especially the FMLN, the party out of which many Salvadoran feminists came. There are still so many critical issues for women in El Salvador that must be addressed by the campaign.
One of the biggest problems for Salvadoran women is the increasing amount of violence they face. According to the Washington Office on Latin America, 80% of women in Salvadoran households experience domestic violence. (SHARE) In addition, the number of femicides, or the killing of women because they are women, has been on the rise. In 2005 there were 390 cases and in the short period of January through August of 2006 there were already 286 reported femicides. (SHARE) Perhaps more alarming than the increasingly large number of femicides is the level of impunity with which these murders are treated. According to the SHARE Foundation, 42% of these femicides are committed in public and go largely unpunished.
Related to the level of violence is the increasing feminization of migration. ORMUSA, The Organization of Salvadoran Women for Peace, reports that beginning in the year 2000 more women than men began to migrate. Those that plan to make the long and treacherous journey of migration to the United States are faced with a great deal of physical, sexual and emotional violence along the path. Most women who plan to migrate to the U.S. begin taking birth control pills two months in advance because they know they will be raped on their way. (SHARE)
In addition, women are economically stifled by their lack of access to credit and equal employment. Only 1% of all Salvadoran businesses are owned by women. Women also do not have the same opportunities for employment. Jobs for women are confined primarily to the productive sector, including employment in exploitive maquillas. Maquiallas have long been a mainstay of employment for women, but as a result of the Central American Free Trade Agreement even these jobs have been diminishing for women. CAFTA has resulted in an increase in technology based factory work and bilingual call centers as sources of employment. Due to their unequal access to education many women are not qualified for these jobs. Even in higher levels of employment women face barriers to equal employment. Men are often given preference in jobs and earn higher salaries. Furthermore, once hired women are often subject to a great deal of sexual harassment.
Health problems are also a critical issue for Salvadoran women. Many health issues for women are related to childbirth. El Salvador has a maternal mortality rate of 71 out of 100,000 births. Most peasant women give birth to their children in their homes, many times without any assistance. (Dream 36) Those women that are lucky enough to give birth in a hospital or clinic can be subject to forced sterilization. In El Salvador “hundreds of women have been sterilized during childbirth without their knowledge or consent.” (Dream 90) Psychological stress can also be a huge problem for Salvadoran women. Many women suffer from depression due to the machismo they experience on a day to day basis. The general poverty and lack of employment in El Salvador often causes the most stress to women since it is usually the women of the family who are responsible for feeding the family and caring for their children.
Women also face the problem of inequality before the law. The right wing government in El Salvador celebrated its Family Code Law as a way to increase gender equality, but this has certainly not been the case. The law addresses women only in their position within the family and may actually be used against women in many situations. Judges may encourage women to stay in abusive or violent situations in order to maintain the family structure. (Bernarda 8) In addition, abortion legislation passed in 1998 has eliminated any circumstances under which abortion was previously allowed. Currently, abortion is completely illegal in El Salvador. Lastly, it should be mentioned that there is essentially no body of government dedicated to women’s issues. There is a Ministry of Women within the current ARENA government, but it’s only budget is the salary for the mere one person who staffs it.
In order to gain a more full understanding of the situation of Salvadoran women, especially women of the FMLN, it may help to briefly analyze the experiences of women in a specific community. Ita-Maura is a rural community in the department of La Libertad. It is a small community of FMLN supporters, including some former combatants and current organizers for the FMLN political party. The experiences of women in this community can help to illuminate the situation of many FMLN women throughout El Salvador.
Despite the fact that Ita-Maura is a leftist FMLN community machismo continues to play a huge role in the daily lives of women there. Many women in Ita-Maura are not able to gain employment because this often requires traveling to another town and this is usually not allowed because women are expected to take care of all of the household and child rearing responsibilities.
As part of the community governance of Ita-Maura there is a Women’s Council. This group though lacks genuine power within the community. It appears to be little more than another group to whom the Directive of the community delegates its own projects, providing little in the way of projects for women to apply themselves to. In addition, a recent meeting with the Women’s Council was attended by a male member of the Community Directive who actually did most of the speaking for the women. Furthermore, the meeting was cut short because the women had to leave to go home and prepare lunch. This further exemplifies one of the many ways in which machismo stifles the political participation of women in Ita-Maura.
Women are also at a disadvantage when it comes to education. Angela, a woman from Ita-Maura and a member of the Women’s Council describes the situation: “When faced with the choice, parents will send a boy to school before sending a girl. Girls are lucky if they make it to high school.”
Despite the fact that women make up 57% of El Salvador’s population their problems have been addressed very little by the country’s ARENA government. Next year the FMLN candidate stands a great chance of winning the presidential election. This has been seen as a beacon of hope for many Salvadorans, especially for women. Angela, a member of the Ita-Maura Women’s Council expressed this great hope when she said that “things will change so much if the FMLN wins. Life for women will be a lot better.” During the war and in the immediate demobilization that followed the FMLN failed to live up to its potential of increasing gender equality in El Salvador. The FMLN party may have a great opportunity to make up for this if they are successful in the presidential election of 2009. As a preliminary measure of whether or not the FMLN will live up to its potential an analysis of its published plan of government is critical.
The FMLN plan of government includes an entire section devoted to women’s issues entitled “Política para la Equidad de Genero.” This section describes how the FMLN will work to facilitate access to land and private property for women, increase access for women to employment and help ensure equal pay. In addition, the FMLN plans to give women priority in the granting of small business loans and to promote other systems of credit for women. (31) Improving women’s access to political space is also addressed. The FMLN pledges to “take actions to help women in politics.” (32) This will be done by increasing access for women to places where they can make decisions on public responsibilities, structures and direction of political parties.
Throughout other sections of the plan for government women’s issues are addressed within the context of other areas of governing. The FMLN has pledged to prioritize the inclusion of girls in education, guarantee universal access and equality of reproductive health services. In the section on health the government plan prioritized the repairing of the national maternity hospital.
For the many female FMLN combatants who hoped that their commitment to the revolution would result in a changed political situation for women, the years since demobilization have proven to be a disappointment. The leftist FMLN has failed to make their message of equality inclusive of gender and the women that have long supported the party still face a bleak situation in El Salvador. Salvadoran women are hopeful that if the FMLN is successful in the next election that they will stay true to their plans for improving the conditions for all women. It is the hope of Salvadoran women that their contributions to the revolutionary effort, their long struggle for equality and the many sacrifices they have made will not go unnoticed. The women of the FMLN are hopeful that their participation has not been in vain, that their entry into the world of politics will truly transform their lives.
Bibliography
Kampwirth, Karen. 2004. Feminism and the Legacy of Revolution: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas. Ohio University: Center for International Studies
Luciak, Ilja. 2001. “Gender Equality and Electoral Politics on the Left: A Comparison of El Salvador and Nicaragua.” Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs. pp39-63
New Americas Press. 1989. A Dream Compels Us: Voices of Salvadoran Women. Boston: South End Press
ORMUSA. March- April 2008. Bernarda
Safa, Helen. 1990. “Women’s Social Movements in Latin America” Gender and Society
Vol. 4, No. 3, Special Issue: Women and Development in the Third World. pp354-369
SHARE. 2007. “Violence Threatens Every-Day Salvadorans” Share Advocacy Issues Series
Stephen, Lynn. 1997. Women and Social Movements in Latin America: Power from Below. Austin: University of Texas Press
Vasquez, Norma. 1997. “Motherhood and Sexuality in Times of War: The Case of Women Militants of the FMLN in El Salvador” Reproductive Health Matters Vol. 5, No. 9. pp139-146
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